Internet Explorer Tips:
Open IE to a website in a new window from a shortcut
I often create a shortcut on my desktop to websites that I'm checking frequently. I find this is a way to give specific websites a higher priority than just saving them to favorites then trying to find them from a hundred other sites already in favorites. Simply right click on any website and select "Create Shortcut" ...but when you use this shortcut from your desktop it OVERWRITES any current website that is loaded. If you want to make it open in a new IE window do this: Right click on your desktop and select "New" "Shortcut" then enter this WITH quotes: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" The website.com Of course you put the url (YOU want to go to) in place of The website.com (Use Program Files (x86) if you are running the 32 bit version of Windows 7)
Run several IE windows with specific websites loaded with one click!
Suppose you want to check craigslist.org for jobs in 3 different categories... or you want to check several message boards for shopping deals on a daily or weekly basis - or several news sites. There are several steps you would have to take... for example you could open IE and go to favorites then select the urls that you had saved and open them in a new tab or window but that would be over 20 clicks....or you could set up a batch file like this and put it on your desktop and click once.
START /d "C:\Program Files\internet explorer" iexplore.exe http://mobile.craigslist.org/trp/
START /d "C:\Program Files\internet explorer" iexplore.exe http://mobile.craigslist.org/lab/
START /d "C:\Program Files\internet explorer" iexplore.exe http://mobile.craigslist.org/trd/
To convert the 3 lines above to a batch file, simply copy and paste them to a text file and rename it .bat and put it on your desktop. Of course you would modify the urls to go to the websites of your choice. (More on renaming file extensions later.)
Popup blockers FREQUENTLY prevent urls (hyperlinks) from opening on a web page. Rather than allowing all popups to work on the page, just right click on the hyper url link and select "Open in new window" from the menu.
Reducing Advertising
Kill the annoying web page advertising (where you have underlined words that popup an advertisement when you mouse-over them on a web page.)
In IE, click "Tools" "Internet Options" "Security tab" "Restricted sites" "Sites" and add
kona.kontera.com
*.infolinks.com
googlesyndication.com
serw.clicksor.com
click.adbrite.com
besttechie.net
exponential.com
in the popup box. If you come across new "text based" popup advertising, right click on it and select "properties" and copy and paste the url to the "Restricted sites" box (without "http://") then refresh the page and they will disappear if you did it correctly. Sometimes it's difficult to find what website the text advertising is based on... I'm still working on a solution for those.
Here is the regfile info you can import for the ones above without having to enter them manually. Save it in a text file and rename it to Restricted.reg then click on it and allow it to merge. If it doesn't merge then you have the "hide file extensions" turned on under Folder Options / View.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
;block Website text advertising [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\adbrite.com] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\adbrite.com\click]
"*"=dword:00000004 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\clicksor.com] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\clicksor.com\serw]
"*"=dword:00000004 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\googlesyndication.com]
"*"=dword:00000004 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\infolinks.com]
"*"=dword:00000004 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\besttechie.net]
"*"=dword:00000004
If you want to contribute to this list I'll add the sites and post/blog the new reg file when there are 3 or 4 more sites to restrict.
Windows Explorer Tips:
Command Prompt Here
Once upon a time there was a nice little script that added a feature to Windows Explorer to open to a DOS command prompt in any folder that your right click on. That script does not work in window 7 but there is an internal option you can activate:
Right-click on a folder in Windows Explorer window. Note that you do NOT have the "Open Command Prompt Here" option. Now, hold the SHIFT key while you right-click the folder. Behold! There it is! (Along with several more features.)
You can also go to "Start" "All Programs/Accessories" and pin the Command Prompt to the Taskbar or Start Menu.... THEN you can click on it's properties and add \desktop (for example) to the "Start in" field... and you'll open to the command prompt to your desktop folder... or whatever folder you specified.
Drag and drop files from your hard drive to your website in Windows Explorer
Click Start/Computer/ (Or Winkey + E) Right click under "Network Location" and click "Add a Network Location" and type in your ftp site. Uncheck "Log in Anonymously" and type your user name, click Next, next etc... The first time you log onto your website, you will be asked for your password and you'll be asked if you if you want to save it. The next time you open Windows Explorer you will have the ftp site added and can view the files like they are on your hard drive... and you can simply drag and drop or copy and paste files to/from it. If you saved the password you will only be prompted when you are about to overwrite a file... same as if you were overwriting a file on your hard drive.
History and Privacy
Url history in the Taskbar "Address" is the same as the history in Internet Explorer, as well as in the "Search" feature in IE. To clear this history go to Tools, Internet Options in IE. You can set IE 8 to clear history on every exit so the website addresses and searches will be deleted automatically... or just delete the history manually when you want to.
If you install the Google Taskbar, you can click on the Google logo then click on "Clear Search History"
Windows Media Player history can be cleared or turned off. With Windows Media Player running click "Organize" "Options" "Privacy" then uncheck the boxes, "Clear" and "Apply" (Win 7 Final, the evaluation version is different.)
If you can't pay a video clip you probably need the codec. Here are the ones that were not included: http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html
The most popular cleaning utility is a free one from Piriform. It not only removes history and internet tracks but also temporary files and it removes hidden tracks that are in a file called index.dat. You can't delete index.dat and you can't easily remove your internet history url's that it stores. (If you want to know what someone has been doing on your computer, unless they have used an advanced cleaning utility, their tracks will be stored in index.dat. I think you can still load it in a text editor and see url's ...even though the data will be jumbled up.) http://www.piriform.com/products
Loathing Norton AV
Norton Av seems to have crept onto ever computer in the world and will pester you for money until you uninstall it. And there are many articles that claim that one of the BEST ways to speed up your computer is to remove Norton Antivirus ...but it's not simple to get rid of. You have download, and run, their uninstall utility to get this klunker off your system. Hopefully this link will still work if you are reading this a couple years from now - 8/11/09.
ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/removal_tools/Norton_Removal_Tool.exe
I recommend Panda Active Scan. Panda's virus definitions are always current because they are stored online. You don't have to pay to scan with Panda Active Scan and it will log the bugs it finds and where they are located in a text file. As with all AV programs, most of the so called "threats" they report are simply cookies used by the websites you have visited and not real threats. http://www.pandasecurity.com/activescan/index/
If a virus or malware program is found and can't be directly deleted, it is
probably running in memory and you'll have to kill it first. "CTRL+Shift+Esc" then find it under the Processes tab and "End" it so you can delete it... just as you would do if StartupMonitor keeps popping up telling you that something wants to run at startup after you have said no.
Loathing Adobe pdf reader.
What's going on with so many companies adding all kinds of crapware to their software? Just because they are free doesn't mean my system and internet service is free to them! I just downloaded and setup Adobe pdf reader, because Microsoft hasn't come up with a pdf reader. I was shocked to see that Adobe FORCED McAfee to install and run on my computer. WTF? I had no opportunity to opt-out either. I wrote them a nasty email and found this FREE pdf reader that appears to be free of malware, crapware etc. It works great. http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/download.html
Open IE to a website in a new window from a shortcut
I often create a shortcut on my desktop to websites that I'm checking frequently. I find this is a way to give specific websites a higher priority than just saving them to favorites then trying to find them from a hundred other sites already in favorites. Simply right click on any website and select "Create Shortcut" ...but when you use this shortcut from your desktop it OVERWRITES any current website that is loaded. If you want to make it open in a new IE window do this: Right click on your desktop and select "New" "Shortcut" then enter this WITH quotes: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" The website.com Of course you put the url (YOU want to go to) in place of The website.com (Use Program Files (x86) if you are running the 32 bit version of Windows 7)
Run several IE windows with specific websites loaded with one click!
Suppose you want to check craigslist.org for jobs in 3 different categories... or you want to check several message boards for shopping deals on a daily or weekly basis - or several news sites. There are several steps you would have to take... for example you could open IE and go to favorites then select the urls that you had saved and open them in a new tab or window but that would be over 20 clicks....or you could set up a batch file like this and put it on your desktop and click once.
START /d "C:\Program Files\internet explorer" iexplore.exe http://mobile.craigslist.org/trp/
START /d "C:\Program Files\internet explorer" iexplore.exe http://mobile.craigslist.org/lab/
START /d "C:\Program Files\internet explorer" iexplore.exe http://mobile.craigslist.org/trd/
To convert the 3 lines above to a batch file, simply copy and paste them to a text file and rename it .bat and put it on your desktop. Of course you would modify the urls to go to the websites of your choice. (More on renaming file extensions later.)
Popup blockers FREQUENTLY prevent urls (hyperlinks) from opening on a web page. Rather than allowing all popups to work on the page, just right click on the hyper url link and select "Open in new window" from the menu.
Reducing Advertising
Kill the annoying web page advertising (where you have underlined words that popup an advertisement when you mouse-over them on a web page.)
In IE, click "Tools" "Internet Options" "Security tab" "Restricted sites" "Sites" and add
kona.kontera.com
*.infolinks.com
googlesyndication.com
serw.clicksor.com
click.adbrite.com
besttechie.net
exponential.com
in the popup box. If you come across new "text based" popup advertising, right click on it and select "properties" and copy and paste the url to the "Restricted sites" box (without "http://") then refresh the page and they will disappear if you did it correctly. Sometimes it's difficult to find what website the text advertising is based on... I'm still working on a solution for those.
Here is the regfile info you can import for the ones above without having to enter them manually. Save it in a text file and rename it to Restricted.reg then click on it and allow it to merge. If it doesn't merge then you have the "hide file extensions" turned on under Folder Options / View.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
;block Website text advertising [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\adbrite.com] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\adbrite.com\click]
"*"=dword:00000004 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\clicksor.com] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\clicksor.com\serw]
"*"=dword:00000004 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\googlesyndication.com]
"*"=dword:00000004 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\infolinks.com]
"*"=dword:00000004 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\besttechie.net]
"*"=dword:00000004
If you want to contribute to this list I'll add the sites and post/blog the new reg file when there are 3 or 4 more sites to restrict.
Windows Explorer Tips:
Command Prompt Here
Once upon a time there was a nice little script that added a feature to Windows Explorer to open to a DOS command prompt in any folder that your right click on. That script does not work in window 7 but there is an internal option you can activate:
Right-click on a folder in Windows Explorer window. Note that you do NOT have the "Open Command Prompt Here" option. Now, hold the SHIFT key while you right-click the folder. Behold! There it is! (Along with several more features.)
You can also go to "Start" "All Programs/Accessories" and pin the Command Prompt to the Taskbar or Start Menu.... THEN you can click on it's properties and add \desktop (for example) to the "Start in" field... and you'll open to the command prompt to your desktop folder... or whatever folder you specified.
Drag and drop files from your hard drive to your website in Windows Explorer
Click Start/Computer/ (Or Winkey + E) Right click under "Network Location" and click "Add a Network Location" and type in your ftp site. Uncheck "Log in Anonymously" and type your user name, click Next, next etc... The first time you log onto your website, you will be asked for your password and you'll be asked if you if you want to save it. The next time you open Windows Explorer you will have the ftp site added and can view the files like they are on your hard drive... and you can simply drag and drop or copy and paste files to/from it. If you saved the password you will only be prompted when you are about to overwrite a file... same as if you were overwriting a file on your hard drive.
History and Privacy
Url history in the Taskbar "Address" is the same as the history in Internet Explorer, as well as in the "Search" feature in IE. To clear this history go to Tools, Internet Options in IE. You can set IE 8 to clear history on every exit so the website addresses and searches will be deleted automatically... or just delete the history manually when you want to.
If you install the Google Taskbar, you can click on the Google logo then click on "Clear Search History"
Windows Media Player history can be cleared or turned off. With Windows Media Player running click "Organize" "Options" "Privacy" then uncheck the boxes, "Clear" and "Apply" (Win 7 Final, the evaluation version is different.)
If you can't pay a video clip you probably need the codec. Here are the ones that were not included: http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html
The most popular cleaning utility is a free one from Piriform. It not only removes history and internet tracks but also temporary files and it removes hidden tracks that are in a file called index.dat. You can't delete index.dat and you can't easily remove your internet history url's that it stores. (If you want to know what someone has been doing on your computer, unless they have used an advanced cleaning utility, their tracks will be stored in index.dat. I think you can still load it in a text editor and see url's ...even though the data will be jumbled up.) http://www.piriform.com/products
Loathing Norton AV
Norton Av seems to have crept onto ever computer in the world and will pester you for money until you uninstall it. And there are many articles that claim that one of the BEST ways to speed up your computer is to remove Norton Antivirus ...but it's not simple to get rid of. You have download, and run, their uninstall utility to get this klunker off your system. Hopefully this link will still work if you are reading this a couple years from now - 8/11/09.
ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/removal_tools/Norton_Removal_Tool.exe
I recommend Panda Active Scan. Panda's virus definitions are always current because they are stored online. You don't have to pay to scan with Panda Active Scan and it will log the bugs it finds and where they are located in a text file. As with all AV programs, most of the so called "threats" they report are simply cookies used by the websites you have visited and not real threats. http://www.pandasecurity.com/activescan/index/
If a virus or malware program is found and can't be directly deleted, it is
probably running in memory and you'll have to kill it first. "CTRL+Shift+Esc" then find it under the Processes tab and "End" it so you can delete it... just as you would do if StartupMonitor keeps popping up telling you that something wants to run at startup after you have said no.
Loathing Adobe pdf reader.
What's going on with so many companies adding all kinds of crapware to their software? Just because they are free doesn't mean my system and internet service is free to them! I just downloaded and setup Adobe pdf reader, because Microsoft hasn't come up with a pdf reader. I was shocked to see that Adobe FORCED McAfee to install and run on my computer. WTF? I had no opportunity to opt-out either. I wrote them a nasty email and found this FREE pdf reader that appears to be free of malware, crapware etc. It works great. http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/download.html
